Whoso pulleth out this sword of this stone and anvil, is rightwise king born of all England.

The line comes from Sir Thomas Malory’s late-15th-century Arthurian compilation, *Le Morte Darthur*, in the opening “Tale of King Arthur.” After Uther Pendragon’s death, England lacks a clear heir. At Christmas in London, a miraculous sword appears set in a stone atop an anvil, bearing an inscription that declares the rightful king will be the one who can draw it. The test is witnessed by nobles and clergy and becomes the mechanism by which the unknown youth Arthur—raised away from court—proves his legitimacy and is eventually accepted (after repeated trials and political resistance) as king.

The inscription frames kingship as a matter of providence rather than mere force or inheritance disputes: legitimacy is revealed by a public, divinely sanctioned sign. The sword-in-the-stone episode also dramatizes a central Arthurian tension between “rightwise” rule and the ambitions of powerful lords; even when the sign is clear, acceptance must be negotiated. Malory’s diction (“rightwise king born”) emphasizes moral and lawful authority, suggesting that true sovereignty is both rightful by birth and confirmed by a higher order. The scene establishes Arthur as a chosen ruler and sets the romance’s recurring concern with the fragility of political unity.